Kurogiri Is Not Aizawa's Villain To Take Down

Kurogiri is not Aizawa's villain to take down

he never was, and he never will be, if for no other reason than because Horikoshi hadn't decided what to do with Kurogiri when he was first introduced.

Kurogiri and Shigaraki are the only two villains that we're introduced to at USJ who are part of the final war. because Horikoshi hasn't figured out Kurogiri yet There's nothing between Kurogiri and Aizawa. They did not recognize each other then. At all. There's nothing there. This is later confirmed at Tartarus, when Aizawa and Mic are told the truth about Shirakumo and Kurogiri.

Horikoshi likes foreshadowing. If he had intended for Kurogiri to have been Aizawa's childhood friend from the start, there would have been some sort of hint of it back then. Okay, so then when did he decide on Kurogiri's origins? Probably by the time we got the remedial training arc, because that's the first time we really get Mic as a character. Granted, we don't get a whole lot of insight into him, because he's not the focus of the plot. But we do get some glimpses of who he is. He's smart and sarcastic and weird and doesn't seem to like conflict or at least awkward conversations and most importantly Aizawa trusts him.

Mic is Aizawa's other childhood friend, of course he trusts him- No. It's not just that. Here's the thing. Mic and Aizawa and Shirakumo are so intrinsically tied together that when we first learn of Shirakumo-through their memories-they are both present in each other's memories with Shirakumo.

Mic had to be allowed to become a full character because he was going to be part of Kurogiri's story.

I would almost make an argument that Kurogiri is more Mic's villain than Aizawa's even. Okay? Remember how I said Kurogiri doesn't recognize Aizawa? He recognizes Mic. Or at least according to Garaki he does. He confirms that they were after Erasure, so if they were watching Aizawa back when he was a student, they should know that all three of them were friends, right? But he refers to Mic as Kurogiri's friend. Present tense. Kurogiri still knows who Mic is.

And this was confirmed back in Tartarus when they first confront Kurogiri too. This time Kurogiri recognizes them both (he only indicates that he knows Aizawa from USJ btw). Aizawa starts talking to Shirakumo, who tries responding, but he's not able to actually break through until Mic also calls out to him.

Aizawa's never able to reach Shirakumo alone. He confirms that he kept trying while they were both at central hospital, but was never able to get a response. If Kurogiri was solely Aizawa's villain, then he would have been able to get through to him then. Shirakumo would have been the heroes secret ace in the hole during the final war, there would be no need for Monoma to have learned to use warp gate. There would have been no reason to use Mic as an actual character. There would have been no reason for Aizawa to ask Mic to be at the hospital. Because again, Aizawa trusts Mic. He knows he's not able to reach Shirakumo alone and is hoping Mic can.

And he's not wrong. When it comes down to it, and Kurogiri wakes up, there's a part of Shirakumo fighting for control too. Because Mic called out to him.

Kurogiri is not Aizawa's villain. He is, at the very least, both Mic and Aizawa's villain (and maybe it's just me projecting as a Mic fan, but I'm almost inclined to believe Mic is going to play a bigger role than Aizawa in this plot) But the last time we saw any of the three of them, they were together, so we'll just have to wait and see how this plays out for them.